tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri May 05 10:45:01 2000
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Re: vocab q's
DloraH
: Klingons might not always be accurate, but they never aproximate.
: Give us some idea of the time frame involved.
Eodrakken
> I was thinking of a meaning something like, "Once, I was an
> officer" or "I used to be an officer". {ret yaS jIH}?
: WHEN was that "once"? Was it one year ago? Ten years ago?
: vagh ben yaS jIHta'
: Up until five years ago I was an officer.
: If we had a conversation in english and you said "I used to be an officer",
: one of my responses would be, "Oh. When?" You would then have to say another
: sentence to explain WHEN you were an officer.
Well, the language does allow you to be imprecise if you choose to be.
Although you can't use the time words by themselves like Eodrakken wants to do,
you may be able to modify these nouns - and they are nouns, not adverbials -
with {law'} "be many" and {puS} "be few" if you don't know, or don't want to
specify, the precise number. E.g.:
ben puS tlhIngan Hubbeq yaS jIH.
A few years ago I was an officer in the Klingon Defense Force.
qaStaHvIS DIS law' tlhIngan Hubbeq yaS jIHtaH.
For many years I was an officer in the Klingon Defense Force.
nem puS tlhIngan Hubbeq yaS vImojpu'.
In a few years I'll become an officer in the Klingon Defense Force.
If you're looking for ways to begin a story, try:
ben law'
many years ago, long ago
ben law'qu'
long, long ago; once upon a time ("many, many years ago")
ben puS / wen puS
not long ago, recently ("a few years/months ago")
I must point out, however, that AFAIK we've never seen Okrand do this (he has
always specified a number), although it is fairly common here on the listserv.
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons